Ford EcoSport : Official Review

This is a discussion on Ford EcoSport : Official Review within Official New Car Reviews, part of the Team-BHP Reviews category; Hello Folks,
To introduce myself, I am a newbie to the automotive world and only started taking a keen interest ...

To introduce myself, I am a newbie to the automotive world and only started taking a keen interest in cars once I realized that I have to purchase one. I am a Mumbai-ite by birth and given the bad infrastructure, mad traffic and poor availability of parking spaces, I chose to use the public modes of transportation available while renting a car for inter-city travel.

The driver for this change is the fact that I have recently relocated to Pune and as many of you will know, public transportation in Pune, even autorickshaws, are a headache here - from poor bus connectivity to outright looting by rickshaw drivers who demand one and a half times to double fare.

My criteria while buying a car are as below, in no particular order of priority:

Automatic transmission – The usage will be about 80% in the city, apart from the occasional trips to Mumbai and one off weekend getaways. I would much rather have the conveniences of an AT than the power/control that my manual transmission car driving friends swear by.

High ground clearance – The speed breakers in Pune are car killers! Every sedan / hatchbackI have ridden in here has scraped them at least one or two times

Safety features (ABS and Airbags) – I tend to agree with the other members on the forum, no compromises when it comes to the family’s and my own safety.

Budget – ~10 Lacs

Some of the cars that I did consider are the Mahindra Thar & Tata Xenon (I have a thing for pick-ups, drove a lot of them in the US). Dzire, Amaze, Vento, Verna amongst sedans and also the Brio and Polo in the hatchback segment. Clearly you must be aware that none of the options mentioned above tick all the boxes.

I was aware that Ford is planning to launch the Ecosport for the past 7-8 months but apart from the looks (which I immediately loved), details such as price and AT version were not available.

Post launch, I have been keenly following this string (ever since the first review by Vid) and was delighted to find that this is just the vehicle I was waiting for!!

The Booking Experience
I went to Talera Ford on July 1 since it is the closest dealership to my office and I will count myself very fortunate to have picked them. The SA was very polite and patient despite the huge crowds in the dealership clamoring for information/test drives/bookings. He was also very knowledgeable and could answer all my questions to my satisfaction. They also did not force any accessories on me, nor did they insist that I need to purchase financing/insurance from them.

In fact, I was so impressed that even though I went to the dealership only for information but I walked out having booked my very first car! It is the 1.5L Petrol AT model. I have been told that the car should be delivered to me in 1-3 month time-frame, given that they do not have too many AT bookings. My booking number (amongst AT models) is 13. I have chosen the Sea Gray colour.

Accessories
I have picked the following:

Essential Pack (mud guards, carpets, etc.)

Roof rack - My family does not believe in traveling light! Plus I go camping a few times a year and the carrier does come in handy to transport tents and other paraphernalia

Vinyl seats – the fabric seats just don’t feel right!

Illuminated scuff plates - a touch of bling!

Financing/Insurance:
There were 2 fairly good options to choose from; HDFC and SBI.

HDFC – 10.25% interest for 5 years for 100% of the ex-showroom cost

SBI – 10.4% interest for 5, 6, or 7 years for 85% of the on-road cost.

I decided to go with SBI for 2 reasons, namely, 0 pre-payment penalties and inclusion of upto 25K of accessories in the on-road cost.
As for insurance, I have not completely researched this and I am still internalizing the information on this forum on the topic. Any additional advice will be most welcome.

I will keep this group updated on my journey as a first time car buyer and I look forward to reading all your inputs!

Just a thought...
Ford claims 30000 bookings. Let us assume that average cost of all models on-road is 900000 (as mostly titanium models are being bought). This means that if Ford can deliver the cars fast, they will pocket a cool 2700 crores. Never thought so much in terms of figures but suddenly feel that producing something fantastic can change anyone's fortunes...

Finally after a mail to FORD INDIA and various visits to RIDDHI FORD in Delhi I have been able to secure my vehicle booking number. I have been told that my number is 136 and about 45 cars are being allotted every month so that means I have to wait another 3 months.

This after I booked pre-launch on 24th June and confirmed my Variant and Colour on 26th June (alongwith advance), within minutes of the launch.

Seems like I am getting a raw deal from RIDDHI FORD, is there anyone else who has booked from RIDDHI FORD, Mathura Road, New Delhi and has got a booking number ??

Please share your booking date, booking number received and the variant you booked so that I can take up this matter with the dealership.

All this hustle with the dealership is really leaving a bad taste in the mouth when it comes to purchase of the Ecosport !

And compared to this the purchase of my CHEVY CRUZE LTZ was a breeze

Hi Gautam

I booked 1.5 Diesel Titanium (O) with Riddhi Ford on 30th June and have been quoted 3 months by the SA although he was positive on delivering sooner than that. That day he says they've reached some 250 bookings and regarding the mandatory packs, insurance et al, although I expressed in negative about them he had no issues whatsoever till then. Further I haven't been provided any Booking Number, shall get in touch with them now.

Dealers at present have actually no idea about the AT variant deliveries. They are only aware to some extent regarding Diesel and Ecoboost to some extent. So really speaking most are just playing safe and giving exaggerated delivery dates. The situation is compounded by the recent recall which seems to be delaying the second lot deliveries and making the dealers even more cautious in committing to deliveries.

I booked 1.5 Diesel Titanium (O) with Riddhi Ford on 30th June and have been quoted 3 months by the SA although he was positive on delivering sooner than that. That day he says they've reached some 250 bookings

Further I haven't been provided any Booking Number, shall get in touch with them now.

Hi !

I have written a mail to FORD INDIA regarding this and got a call from them today. They said that the dealer should have informed me the OFFICIAL booking number at the least and they will take up the matter with RIDDHI FORD. I Strongly suggest that you send a mail as well about RIDDHI FORD so that the matter is taken up strongly. Email id is : custmail@ford.com (Ford India) and asm@riddhiford.in (Mr.Nitin Kalra - Asst Manager Riddhi Ford)

Just before the starting of July, there were more than 4-5 EcoSport delivered, it gave me goosebumps. Now after hearing the waiting period in this thread, my reaction was. A common question if you guys don't mind. What is the current waiting period for the EcoSport in your respective town (s) or city (es)?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aitchtee

Hello Folks,

Congrats on the EcoSport, Asking the same question which I have given above: What's the waiting period?

Just a thought...
Ford claims 30000 bookings. Let us assume that average cost of all models on-road is 900000 (as mostly titanium models are being bought). This means that if Ford can deliver the cars fast, they will pocket a cool 2700 crores. Never thought so much in terms of figures but suddenly feel that producing something fantastic can change anyone's fortunes...

You cannot take On-Road price for this calculation. What Ford would be getting is the Ex-Showroom - VAT - Dealer Margin = Actual amount received.

I walked out having booked my very first car! It is the 1.5L Petrol AT model. Accessories
I have picked the following:[list=1][*]Roof rack - My family does not believe in traveling light! Plus I go camping a few times a year and the carrier does come in handy to transport tents and other paraphernalia

The Roof Rack requires that one also buy the cross Bars which roughly cost as much as the roof rack itself. Just check. That is what my dealer has maintained. It anyway makes for a smarter way to fit the roof rack.

Congrats. I have made the same booking. But will take delivery only if it comes reasonably soon.

Just a thought...
Ford claims 30000 bookings. Let us assume that average cost of all models on-road is 900000 (as mostly titanium models are being bought). This means that if Ford can deliver the cars fast, they will pocket a cool 2700 crores. Never thought so much in terms of figures but suddenly feel that producing something fantastic can change anyone's fortunes...

Fortunes changed? Not much. They have been in India for around 16 years. and not a single product has clicked enough to make them atleast Book profits.

A common question if you guys don't mind. What is the current waiting period for the EcoSport in your respective town (s) or city (es)?

Congrats on the EcoSport, Asking the same question which I have given above: What's the waiting period?

In Hyderabad, the waiting period informed by a dealer is 6 months. The wait is too long for me to consider an EcoSport, so I've booked an Ertiga instead. It reminds me about the waiting period for the Maruti Swift when they had production issues. I wonder if the launch of a new model with a long waiting period actually causes other manufacturers to get higher sales.

Hello everyone
I am a new member here even though I am following team bhp for quite some time .Many of my decisions (and the decision of my friends) regarding automobiles were taken with inputs from this wonderful site. So let me start by thanking the people who made such a site possible.
Well,I was following this post regularly. I must say that I appreciated that wonderful review about the ecosport – what you’ll like and what you won’t were spot on (although I would disagree on the steering part – which I think is quite good). Armed with all the knowledge gained from here, I had gone to test drive the vehicle from Muthoot Ford,Calicut and came back pre booking it. Contrary to the experiences of many here I had a good sales experience.
On 2nd July i took delivery of my Mars Red ecosport titanium. Had it financed from SBI ( was hassle free) . NO additional accessories were forced upon. Transferred my 50% bonus from New India ( which in fact took some time) Have driven over 2000 km and I am very happy so far. Well in between I had gone for the glow plug control module relocation .( they let me see the whole procedure – which allayed my fears of what was happening inside MY car!!)
If anyone would like to know about my experience with the vehicle I would be happy to help
Once again, thank you team bhp for maintaining such a wonderful place

A small correction here. The airbags installed into the seat sides are side airbags.

Curtain airbags are fit into the door frame at the top, between the grab handles (which are missing on the Titanium (O).

But yes, you're right that seat covers cannot be fit on variants with side airbags.

There are no "Side" airbags. Typically in a car you have 2 airbags - A passenger side one and a driver side one. They are installed at the front of the driver and passenger and not in/on the seats. Curtain airbags as you rightly pointed out, are mounted on the top near the grab handles (or in the ecosport where the grab handles would have been). They on deployment will expand towards the seat and hence the caution about adding additional seat covers. By the way , many of us would have seen "SRS" or a variation of that on airbag equipped cars - SRS stands for Secondary Restraint System. Primary restraint being the seat belt.

There are no "Side" airbags. Typically in a car you have 2 airbags - A passenger side one and a driver side one. They are installed at the front of the driver and passenger and not in/on the seats. Curtain airbags as you rightly pointed out, are mounted on the top near the grab handles (or in the ecosport where the grab handles would have been). They on deployment will expand towards the seat and hence the caution about adding additional seat covers. By the way , many of us would have seen "SRS" or a variation of that on airbag equipped cars - SRS stands for Secondary Restraint System. Primary restraint being the seat belt.

Nope - the top-end variants come with 6 airbags: 2 in the front (in the dash/steering), 2 side airbags within the seat (as k_ajay pointed out) and 2 curtain airbags at the top of the B pillar. See this Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbag#Side_airbag) for an indication of how side vs. curtain airbags appears.

The caution about seat covers is to ensure you don't cover up the side airbags embedded within the seat.